The medical director of NHS England, Sir Bruce Keogh, will give evidence to MPs today about pressure on emergency services.

The hearing comes after one NHS trust admitted downgrading thousands of 999 calls without permission from senior management.

The East of England Ambulance Service has admitted to downgrading calls without permission from senior management Credit: Peter Byrne/PA Wire

The East of England Ambulance Service released an internal report showing that 57 patients died after having their 999 calls downgraded leading ambulances to either arrive late at the scene or not turn up at all.

Yesterday, shadow health secretary Andy Burnham raised the case in the House of Commons, claiming that some of the downgraded calls were on behalf of terminally ill patients.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the East of England ambulance service has received £3.6 million of extra support this winter and defended the record of ambulance services nationwide.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has called today's five-year plan for the NHS an "essentially positive and optimistic" vision of the future of the health service in England.

In his statement to the House of Commons, in response to an urgent question from Labour's Andy Burnham, he said the report calls for a "change in culture about the way we care for people" rather than structural change.